| International News

Instead, through the power of a book, she found forgiveness.

When Dr. John J. Schutzman has cared for innocent children and adults who have been stricken with terminal illnesses, he has often struggled to understand how a loving God could permit so much pain, suffering and loss in the world.

He finally found his answer through a book that changed his perspective.

When Bonnie Schott’s oldest daughter was accepted into her dream college, the mother of nine children fretted about how her one-income, blue-collar family could meet its bills, pay for the Catholic education of her other children and still make her oldest daughter’s dream come true.

She found the comfort and the faith she needed through a book that a friend shared with her.

Schott, Emrick and Schutzman are among the people who responded to this question from The Criterion, newspaper of the Indianapolis archdiocese, “Besides the Bible, is there a book that has had a significant impact on your faith life?”

Their answers show there are often interesting stories about the ways that books make a difference in our lives and our faith.

A haunting question

Laura Emrick will never forget the day she was attacked and nearly died in a jail riot.

On July 7, 2003, Emrick was working as a correctional officer at the Indianapolis Juvenile Correctional Facility when she was stabbed, strangled and severely beaten by several inmates.

“One of the juveniles had been misinformed that her parental rights had been terminated,” Emrick said. “She was mad, and she wanted to kill people. She believed I was the officer responsible for influencing the counselor who supposedly terminated her rights, which wasn’t true. She convinced three other inmates to start the riot to kill me and the counselor. After they started the riot, they kicked me, beat me, strangled me and stabbed me. They thought they had killed me.”

As the inmates started to beat and strangle another officer, Emrick pulled herself to her feet. She then managed to pull the inmates off the other officer. They both called for help and other officers responded to end the riot.

“I had several broken bones - ribs, cheekbone, nose - plus a stab wound to my back and lacerations from being kicked and beaten,” recalled Emrick, a member of St. Gabriel the Archangel Parish in Indianapolis. “I was in the hospital for a week, and went through six months of physical therapy. As I was recuperating, I was reading a lot.”

One of the books she read was “The Sunflower,” by Simon Wiesenthal, a book about the Holocaust of the Jews during World War II.

“It was the most thought-provoking book I had ever read, as it challenges the reader to consider this question: ‘If you were asked to forgive someone who had committed horrible acts against your community, could you - or do you even have the right to - forgive them?’

“Although I began to question everything, in the end, this story brought me closer to God and his great forgiveness and love. I thought I could be angry the rest of my life, or I could let it go and try to forgive them and understand they were hurting, too. They had been abused as children.

“I understood that God had already forgiven them, and he expected me to forgive them, too. Ever since, whenever something has happened to me where I have been emotionally or physically injured, I return to the book and remember that God forgives and so should I.”

Lessons in suffering

In 20 years in health care, Dr. John Schutzman has often been touched and impressed by the courage and strength he has seen in his patients and the people who care for them. The Indianapolis heart physician has also been deeply affected by watching patients struggle and suffer.

“I have always been troubled and perplexed with the problem of pain and suffering in the world,” noted Schutzman, a member of St. Luke Parish in Indianapolis. “We are often told that pain and suffering are part of our reality because of original sin and our freedom to make choices. This is hardly comforting to the many innocent people who suffer due to war, poverty and disease.

“As health care professionals, we see people who live with chronic debilitating diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes. We see people who live with chronic pain due to severe arthritis, injuries or cancer. We see people who have a sudden loss of a loved one or now have to provide care for an invalid family member. We see people who have lost jobs because of their illness or the illness of a loved one.”

A father of six, Schutzman said he has felt guilty being blessed with good health while others suffer. He also has searched for understanding about suffering through the Book of ...